Boys' Tennis Player of the Year: Prep's Louis Abenante

The St. Augustine Prep tennis coach was fully aware his star player, Louis Abenante, was on the court against Shawnee's Justin Kang in the second round of the NJSIAA state singles tournament, but Abenante looked nothing like the player he'd coached for three seasons. He was much, much better.

Though Abenante lost to Kang, the No. 4 seed in the tourney and eventual state quarterfinalist, 6-2, 6-3, his play that day was the perfect finish to a breakout season. The Prep junior went an area-best 23-7 at first singles, was runner-up at the Cape-Atlantic League tournament and made the Sweet 16 of the South Jersey Interscholastic Championships. For his efforts, Abenante is The Daily Journal's Boys' Tennis Player of the Year.

"This year he came to the forefront," Miles said.

Abenante, a Seaview Harbor resident, always has had talent, evidenced by his winning the Hermits' first singles spot as a freshman.

He finished that season 16-9, and improved to 20-9 as a sophomore.

However, this year he took his game to another level, especially toward the end of the season.

When Abenante played Kang on April 5, he was blanked 6-0, 6-0.

When they met again at states on May 31, Abenante won two of the final three games of the match.

"I thought I played really well," Abenante said.

"I was going for all my shots. He's probably one of the best players who ever played (in South Jersey). He gets to every ball and it's very difficult to beat those kinds of players.

"When I was down 5-1 in the second set, I realized I started going for everything. If I do that, I can compete with anyone because I won the next two games and almost won that game at 5-3."

Miles said there wasn't another player that would've gotten to the balls Kang did.

"He was playing offense against Kang and Kang was playing defense," Miles said.

Abenante credits his elevated play to another loss of his during the season, his 6-2, 7-6 (4) setback against Mainland's Ethan Fischer in the CAL championship on May 6.

"I was just going for my shots. I was confident in myself, and I almost won that second set even though I lost that tiebreak," Abenante said.

"I felt if I had won that second set, I could have potentially won that match."

He felt the same positive vibes at the end of the Kang match.

"If I (go for my shots), I can compete with anyone," Abenante said.

Miles had the same feeling after states.

"He took another step forward," Miles said. "Now he's got to take another one. Everyone's going to be shooting for him next year."